Ashoka's Chakra... And Gandhi's Charkha

In yesterday's post, I discussed our State Emblem, which has the chakra (wheel) of the Emperor Ashoka at its base. The fact that this wheel is flanked by a horse and an ox indicates that, way back then, in the 4th century BC, our ancestors had realised the huge gains in efficiency brought about by the wheel when combined with animal power. The horse-drawn chariot won battles; and the ox-drawn cart powered trade by improving transportation. Since all tradeables must be transported, civilisation galloped along - thanks to the wheel.

The wheel remained more-or-less the same till the 19th century - when railways arrived, thanks to the Brits who invented it. It was now steam power, and the wheels were of steel. The rapid spread of railways in British India knit the country together. Of course, tremendous gains were made in efficiency.

The automobile only came in the 20th century - and the Brits built roads to accommodate them. And then, along came Gandhi...

Gandhi's charkha (spinning wheel) was anti-technology. In the 1920s and '30s, India was already the world's biggest importer of British textile machinery. There were modern textile mills all over the country - particularly in Bombay and Ahmedabad. Gandhi's Luddism disapproved. He wanted to halt all this technological progress, to renounce all the gains in efficiency and productivity, and increase "employment." All that increased was "labour."

That is, instead of "saving labour," Gandhi increased it. Thus, in independent and free India, the modern textile industry in our country was shackled and an enormous amount of State interventionism was introduced in order to promote hand-spun cloth (khadi). We lost our comparative advantage in textiles. All these textile mills had to be nationalised!

But this is not all. What about the wheels of transportation? What about the automobile?

From 1947 to 1984, Indians were denied free access to modern wheels - the car. Scooters came with a 10-year waiting list, as did the silly Fiat. Indeed, the waiting period for Fiat cars was so long that a 5-year old Fiat sold for more than the new one.

Things are different these days, and we are able to buy cars and scooters off the shelf. Yet, universal automobile ownership is not a goal of official policy in India. The vast majority ride two- and three-wheelers. And as for the roads...

Compared to Gandhi and Nehru, even Hitler was better in this particular area, for he universalised car ownership in Germany with the Volkswagen Beetle and he also built all the autobahns.

If we want to progress, we in India need wheels and roads. I recommend duty-free imports of used cars, trucks and buses. We must dump the idea of "import-substitution industrialisation" (which is State interventionism) and embrace free trade. There is no logic in protecting MNCs. We now have so many automobile MNCs manufacturing in India - Hyundai, Suzuki, Toyota, Honda, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Skoda... Why do we want to protect them?

So, let trade be free. Open up the ports. Let the people buy cars - that is, four wheels, no two or three. Let roads and highways be built, so that these wheels can be effectively used to power our moribund civilisation and take it forward. Without wheels and roads, we are doomed.

As for our The State and its Planners - let me say that I hate the lot of them. They refuse to build roads. And they refuse to embrace the wheel. The State car is still the aged Ambassador! This is the result of Gandhian nonsense: idolisation of the charkha instead of the chakra. It's the wrong wheel, dude!

Of course, the automobile and the highway are not all that we need. Our railways are terrible. And we have no tramways at all. Further, whatever happened to modern boats?

Yes, free trade, Free enterprise. Privatisation. We must fix our transportation. That is the lesson to draw from the chakra of Ashoka the Great.

Recommended reading: My old article on trade and transportation.